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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

It was almost five years ago in June 2011 when the "Lost Gardens of Apollo" vanished from Second Life. Built in 2005 by Dane Zander, this was a beautifully designed sim with stone architecture and mosaics built well into an island landscape, with high towers stretching high into the sky, and cuddle spots set among a number of pillows and pools. A popular spot for couples who could snuggle or find a spot on a platform or floor to dance in the sunset, it's end was a sad event for both longtime fans and for people whom had just found out about it as word got around. The Newser was around to get a few pictures before it closed.

Usually when a location disappears from Second Life, there's nothing left but screenshots, videos, and memories to look back on. In the case of Svarga and the SS Galaxy, Linden Lab intervened to preserve the places, but this would not be the case with the Lost Gardens. Instead someone would step in to bring back the Gardens on her own. The result is the "Lost Gardens of Apollo Memorial" in the Sorbon Beach sim, built and owned by Delphi Bernard. The sim is a rebuilding, and not a true duplication. But the structures are done in the same style, capturing the beauty and soul of the original Lost Gardens.

"I want to bring back some memories," Delphi told me when I met her at the Gardens. She told me in trying to rebuild the place, she had a double challenge. She basically had just screenshots and videos to work with, "to rebuild the terrain just from memories and pictures, that was not easy. And (to) find the original textures, it takes some days." She told me the Newser article was one such source. Another problem was that this wasn't a full sim but a homestead, "A big challenge was to rebuild that all just with 3750 prims. ... This is just a homestead sim, so I can not rebuild all. I hope you can feel the spirit (of) Apollo a little." She told me it took four to five weeks in total to rebuild. She went on to say Dane Zander, the creator of the original Apollo had seen the place and was happy with it.

Delphi says she should be able to hold onto the sim for the foreseeable future, so both longtime fans of Apollo and those whom had heard about the original but had never seen it can enjoy the location, "I think a little bit retro is good for all."

And so the Lost Gardens of Apollo are back. Perhaps some of the statues and a few other items are not there, but what defined the old Apollo sim is there. For longtime residents whom have seen sim after sim fade away, the return of such a well built area is welcome news.

It's a whole week of events at the Sunweaver Clubs as May ends and June begins. The Happy Vixen starts things off with it's Grand Reopening Party. Later on, they get a little upper class with the "Royal Ball," and a little on the frisky side with "Leather and Lace." At Club Cutlass, the music has a little "kick" and things get a little "krazy" as they have their "Best in K." On Friday, it's a tribute to Hollywood as the club goes "At the Movies."

Last week, the Sunweaver/Angel's beach club, the "Happy Vixen" was closed for a few days while the club was renovated to give it a new look. Part of the reason was the make the club slightly larger due to a little more space available.

The club is jointly owned by Nydia Tungsten and Helios Auxifur, with Helios owning the land. Jasmine Dawn and Ranchan Weidman were the ones who rebuilt the club in in it's new form. The club and hangout consists of a main building built over the shoreline on peirs, which itself comprises a dance floor and DJ booth and a two story roofed area with a bar and hot tub. A few smaller wood surfaces were built over the water next to the main building, with walkways bridging them. On two are a couple games, "Greedy" and "Cards Against Humanity." Some rocks with waterfalls are also in the water, a palm tree growing out of one having a wicker seating area hanging from it, able to hold several people. There's also a raft where a couple can lay, in addition to a lounge with overhead sheeting.

On Memorial Day yesterday, there was an impromptu gathering as Nydia tried out her radio stream. But the official Grand Reopening is tonight at 6PM SL time, when DJ Tantari Kim plays her selection of music for the crowd.

The Happy Vixen was inspired by the "Angels Beach" club, also owned by Nydia, which was around from 2009 to 2010. The venue got it's start as a beach shop in 2011, which soon had a dance floor and DJ booth built next to it by Treminari Huet. In November that year, the club was expanded following the closure of the Raised Tail Resort club (which has no connection to the adult club named Raised Tail). Since then, the club has been renovated several times. most recently in August 2015.

Monday, May 30, 2016

This Memorial Day, while there are a number of places to visit to reflect on those whom died in service to the American military, the USS Arizona Memorial is not among them. The Oahu sim where it was located was offline, and while it's still listed in Search, recent traffic registers as zero. The sim has been taken offline. Unless the sim owner can bring the place back online, it seems the memorial to the famous battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor joins the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which went offline sometime in 2011, among those noted places in Second Life now visible only through past records.

The USS Arizona Memorial, a replica of the real-life memorial in Honolulu Hawaii, has been in Second Life for several years. On December 7, 2011, there was a memorial service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Japanese Empire's attack, which resulted in America's entry into the Second World War. The remainder of the sim was a Pacific island themed residential area in which visitors were free to relax on the beach.

After some time doing some videos, Becky Shamen is back with another art exhibition review. Her latest exploration took her to the Weeds sim, where Second Life artist Cica Ghost has her newest artistic exhibit: "Arachnid." The latest in a line of Cica's exhibits which go back to 2012, it's aptly named with webs and spiders. So what did Becky think of the work?

This Memorial Day in in the United States, there are a number of places on the Grid an American can visit if one wants to take a moment or two to honor those veterans who fell in service to the country.

Veterans Isle is the home location to a group of veterans, and friends of. Every month, they hold a fundraiser to raise funds for the "Homes For Our Troops" charity. Pictured here is their Tomb of the Unknown Solider.

At the Biker Veterans Administration HQ are a few memorials, including a POW*MIA memorial.

The BVA is at Paintoy (152/224/25). The sim is rated adult, so it may be blocked to some residents.

One memorial which has been moved around a few times is the Iraqi War Memorial. Originally in Epimetheus, it was moved to Ganymede, then Galactica. The memorial's displays change every several seconds to show a new name and picture of American soldiers whom lost their lives in the conflict.

You have been my friend for such a long timeI am going to miss you, in every wayFeelings can not express my lossMy life has changed todayAll of the things we used to doAll of the things we had plannedAll of the childhood dreamsHave all gone awayI am going to miss you, in every wayMy life has changed todayThe laughs, the tears, the beautiful smilesThe times we spent together, miles and miles

All of the things I have ever thoughtAll of the things I have ever forgotCome to mind now, like a dream from the pastThey race through my mind way to fastWhen I think of you, when I wish of youI remember the things we used to doMy fondest memories, my childish dreamsAll bring back my love for you

What is left for me to sayWhat is left for me to doYou left me way too soonA void like an empty roomI wish I could change the pastMake some things differentMake some things lastI am going to miss you in every wayFeelings do not express my lossMy life has changed todayIf I could change some thingsIf I could change my lifeI would make sure to sayI love you, I do, I do, I do

You are such a part of my lifeAnd now you are goneTaken away like a whisperTaken away in a breathTaken away for eternal lifeNever to dieBut forever to liveIn a place of happinessIn a place of loveIn a place to restA new place called home above

May you find peaceIn all of your daysAnd comfort in all of your waysI will miss you so very much soI am going to miss you in every wayMy life has changed today

10 am - Bona Dea Ritual & Maypole DanceOur festivals begin with a ritual for Bona Dea, "The Good Goddess" - Also known as Fauna, She is the daughter of Faunus, and a goddess of virginity, fertility, and healing. Bona Dea's rites included only women - even paintings or drawings of men or male animals were forbidden - but in our ROMA, the menfolk are welcome to Her rites. After the rite, we will have the traditional maypole dance, music, and wine!ROMA Vinovium (114, 228, 24)

12pm - Fauna's Fishing ContestBreak out your poles and put on your fishing togas - it's time for another ROMA Fishing event, as we thank Fauna for the bounty she gives us. Using the 7Seas Fishing system, we will be having a fishing contest, with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners receiving cash prizes.ROMA Transtiberim (128, 9, 22)

1pm - Mercuralia Treasure HuntOh no! After a recent shopping trip thru Trajan's Market, Mercury has dropped most of His money while flying home to Olympus! The pouches are now scattered throughout ROMA Trantiberim! Can you help Him find them? But watch out - each pouch will give out only one prize, and then it will disappear. So you will have to be swift to find these elusive pouches before anyone else does!ROMA (184, 41, 26

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Sunday, 29th May

10am - Mercuralia Ritual & Tavern PartyMercury isn't just the herald of the Gods - He's also the patron of merchants and commerce! So this Mercuralia, we will be honouring Him with a ritual in the Mercury Temple at the Macellum! After the ritual, there will be drinking, dancing, and games in the Tavern. Consider it the calm before a long day of contests!ROMA (232, 93, 49)

1pm - Legio HarpastumHarpastum, also known as Harpustum, was a form of ball game played in the Roman EmpireWe know little about the exact rules of the game, but it appears to bear a remarkable resemblance to American Football and Rugby. In our harpastum game, everyone is welcome to play, and the winning team members will receive a cash prize.ROMA Transtiberim (84, 192, 41)

Friday, May 27, 2016

Good news for fans of GoSpeed Racer and KONA radio. The "cleverly named" DJ recently informed the Newser that her radio stream is back in business. "We are now affiliated with SONIXCAST.com out of Canada," she told us, "They pay royalties to SOCAN which is the entity that collects and distributes royalties in Canada. The station is now free of many restrictions including not having to run ad breaks. Also, more good news. We are now listed in iTunes under the '70s Retro category."

For GoSpeed Racer, this is the best news in months. In January, facing skyrocketing "insane" royalty fees, she made a deal with Radionomy to keep broadcasting, But as she stated in the KONA blog, it "hasn’t been a fun ride to say the least" with server outages and poor communications. Finally a lawsuit by Sony resulted in Radionomy blocking it's stream to a number of countries where KONA had listeners. So GoSpeed reluctantly made the decision to close KONA as a station. But it was just days later she made a deal with Sonixcast, "They are a Canadian based company that provides streams and royalty
coverage. It’s not a free service but the monthly cost are very
reasonable compared to the other alternatives. We are looking forward to
spending many productive years with them and keep sharing the music!"

The good news for the Relay for Life's team Sunbeamers continues. Just eight days after the team representing the Sunweaver community reached Bronze rank among the various Relay teams, it's climbed to the next one. The Sunbeamers are new Silver. It was a donation from chieftess Rita Mariner that pushed the total into the next level. As of the writing of this update, the total amount raised this year is 196,240 Linden dollars.

Our team is now SILVER. Bunny went nutz and dumped 25K lindens into the BID ME kiosks. Now it is up to the rest of you to get us to GOLD!

Some of the money went to the three "Bid Me" events going on with the Sunbeamers. Rose Evans' "Bid Me Human" now stands at 700 Lindens for "stay furry," and 10,500 Lindens for "go human." For Becky Shamen's "Bid Me Bald," the current totals are 150 Lindens to keep her hair, and 17,550 for the "hare cut." But for Rita's own "Bid Me Pink" event, the balance has shifted from "pink bunny" at 8,550 Lindens to "stay white" at 22,100 Lindens. With almost 60,000 Lindens in total raised by these three events, these "Bid Me"s are proving very beneficial for team morale (though maybe slightly embarrassing for the three volunteers.

Madonna Daehlie has never been one to shy away from a challenge for the Relay for Life. Known for her rubber suits, DJ Madonna certainly stands out as a unique personality among the Relayers. But if anyone thought she was scary before, they should see her now as she resembles a human/spider hybrid as part of a fundraiser: "Bid a Nightmare to End The Nightmare That is Cancer."

Madonna has been injected with something awful and it gave her spider arms like from "Nightmare on Elm street." What was the mad woman in the sweater said? "Live a nightmare to end a nightmare like cancer." So 20K for each week you wanna see Madonna bugged out!

The kiosk one can donate to for Madonna's "Nightmare" challenge is at Silver Creek (213, 199, 3301)

Thursday, May 26, 2016

With a little less than a month to go, the seventeen sims of the Second Life Thirteenth Birthday event, often called the SL13B for short, were open to exhibitors yesterday on May 25th. The various parcels are now ready for exhibits.

Inara Pey released this "First Teaser" video a few days ago, showing some of the builds already built.

Among the exhibitors will be the Second Life Newser. This time, our exhibit will be in a water sim. As usual, the spot's been marked with the big oversized fedora. We have yet to determine how it'll be part of the completed exhibit. But we'll think of something.

The next notable day in the preparations for the SL13B will be June 10 when the various performers for events are notified. The event itself, one of the biggest annual events in Second Life, attracting thousands of people every year, begins on Sunday June 19. So don't forget to stop by and see the exhibits, including our own.

Frets Nirvana, the premier guitar artist in the virtual world Second Life and the US Military Veterans Group announce a Memorial Weekend benefit on May 29, 2016 in Second Life for the Veterans Support Organization for Home For Our Troops .

Frets Nirvana states: “HFOT is a privately funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization building specially adapted, mortgage-free homes nationwide for the most severely injured Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of these Veterans are multiple amputees, paraplegic, quadriplegic or suffered severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our Veterans sacrificed defending ours, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives. Since its inception in 2004, over 90 cents of every dollar spent by Homes for Our Troop has gone to directly support Veterans. ”

Home for Our Troops benefit concerts feature premier Second Life talent monthly at Veteran’s Isle. The Memorial Weekend concert on May 29, 2016 is scheduled from 5-9 PM PST. Featured artists will be TerryLynn Melody, Shannon Oherlihy, David Csiszer and Frets Nirvana.

ABOUT HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS - HFOT builds homes as a departure point for Veterans to rebuild their lives, and once again become highly productive members of society. Despite their life-altering injuries, many Veterans have embarked on new careers, completed their college degrees, or started families.

Empowered by the freedom a mortgage-free and specially adapted home brings, these Veterans can now focus on their recovery and return to their life’s work of serving others. Many have embraced their roles as motivational speakers, sharing their messages of persevering through tragedy with groups and classrooms around the country; others take to a national platform to promote awareness of veteran suicide, homelessness and PTSD. Their incredible stories are the driving force for the work for HFOT.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Following the "Fox Avatar Challenge" and "Bid Dusk Something," Team Sunbeamers is currently having not one, but three "Bid Me" events to raise funds for the Relay for Life. The three are "Bid Me Human" for DJ Rose, "Bid Me Bald" for the Newser's own Becky Shamen, and the Sunbeamer leader is putting herself on the line with "Bid Me Pink." All three events have their kiosks at Club Cutlass, which will be totaled after the club's Wednesday night party on June 1st.

Rose Evans, a resident of Purrfection, is best known for her tunes as DJ Rose at the Happy Vixen. Talking to her, she told me no one talked her into this, but volunteered on her own, wanting to do something to help. Normally a white tigress, she offered to put her fur on the line, and be stuck as a brown-haired human for a while. As of the writing of this article, residents have contributed 700 Lindens to keep her fur intact, but 5050 to make her tailless for a while.

Becky "Sha" Shamen, the Newser reporter making her home in the Sunweaver Estates, has opted for the traditional "Bid Me Bald" challenge. While many furred avatars have their prim hair fixed to their scalp so it can't be removed, this isn't the case with her mesh bunny. So she's put her hair on the line.

Sunnies/Beamers! Becky Shamen, aka Sha has offered herself up to get shaved, to raise donations for the Sunbeamers and the RFL You can find the kiosks in the Club Cutlass lounge area, so bid high and often. Sha has been very supportive of the Team and the RFL, let's support her.

As word's gotten around, other Relayers have been getting into the act. Trader Whiplash, the man considered to have started the original "Bid Me Bald" contributed a barber chair and a pair of scissors to the event. So on the night of June 1st, poor Becky could very well be facing a "hare cut." Who will be behind the pair of scissors is yet to be determined.

As of the writing of this article, 100 Lindens have been donated to keep Becky as is, with 5,550 donated for the "harecut," making for a total of 5650 and so far the most successful of the three events.

And last but hardly least is Rita Mariner, the chieftess of the Sunweaver community and the leader of it's Relay team the Sunbeamers, whom volunteered for a "Bid Me Pink."

Sunnies: I have put myself up for a BID ME, You can choose to keep me my cute, sweet, white bunny, or turn me into an EBIL, PINK BUNNY! I dislike pink on me! So here is your chance at REVENGE! Kiosks are in the Club Cutlass Lounge, along with the other 2 Bid Mes.Remember I change and stay for a week for each 5K L raised. So far you only got me for a week.

Over the years, Rita has been in a number of "Bid Me" events for both the Passionate Redheads and Sunbeamer Teams. In 2011, she did a "Bid Me Human" that netted 75,000 Lindens. In 2014 was the "Man Up Rita" event that brought over 72,000 Lindens that resulted in her looking like Pepe Le Pew for a while (an avatar some commented she was overqualified for).

Will Rita be facing a "Bubblegum Crisis" on the night of June 1? So far, 1100 Lindens have been donated to keep her a white bunny, with 2000 to make her "pretty in pink." While so far the smallest total, there's little doubt the amount will increase as the Sunnies, and their friends, get to have a little fun with the "killer rabbit." Whether or not at the close of the June 1 party at Cutlass the DJ plays "White Rabbit" or a song from the band "Pink" is anyone's guess.

As for as the writer knows, all three events are 5,000 Lindens for the first week, and an additional week for the next 5,000 raised.

Club Cutlass is at Sunweaver Bay (115, 107, 157) with the kiosks in the lobby behind the dance floor and DJ booth.

On Monday May 23, the Relay for Life's third annual Castle, Home and Garden Contest opened. With 28 teams having builds in twelve sims, there's a lot to see. Gemma Cleanslate was there opening day, and had a look at both the ceremony and some of the builds.

In recent days, there's been some concerns about the Linden dollar due to fluctuations in it's value. While there have been swings in both directions, it's become generally much cheaper to buy Lindens from the Lab than to cash them out.

According to Tyche Shepherd's gridsurvey.com, the minimum rate on the Lindex on February 10 was 248 to the dollar, and the maximum 259. Last week on May 16, the minimum was 252 and the maximum 265. While not much for the typical Second Life resident, for content creators whom make a real-life living with their income from the grid, these increasing sell rates mean a dent in their income.

There's no shortage of opinions as to what's causing the price swings, as evidenced by the comments in the initial New World Notes article, the thread on the subject in the SL Universe forums, and a thread on Plurk. A common thought among residents discussing the matter is that Linden Lab is playing with the value of the Lindens themselves to encourage people to buy them. New World Notes tried contacting Linden Lab on the matter, but got no response. But talking with someone who used to work with the Lab, who preferred to remain anonymous, the man doubted that theory, "We were super-transparent about this years ago, and I doubt it's changed significantly in the time since I left. Linden Lab doesn't control the rates, the market does. If a number of larger businesses that have been holding significant L$ decide to liquidate and are willing to push the rate temporarily less financially favorably for sellers in exchange for more rapid exchange, then short-term small fluctuations like this happen."

So what businesses would be most likely to liquidate their assets? One sound theory, supposedly first came up with by Plurk user T-Kesserex, is that that the increase in people cashing out Lindens is coming from land barons selling theirs to help pay the one-time fees to lower sim rates which has been in effect since early April. Tyche Shepherd reportedly estimated the total number of grandfathered full sims has gone up from 11 percent to close to 21 percent, a near-doubling. He calculated with the tier fees brought Linden Lab slightly over a million US dollars. With the top 20 landowners controlling about half the private estate regions, just a few moving to buy-down their sims to lower rates would involve a lot of Linden dollars.

But Inara Pey noted people were noticing fluctuations as far back as late 2015, well before the buy-down offer was announced in April, hinting while this might have accelerated the swings in rates it didn't explain them completely. Her suggestion was for those with a need or desire for more Linden dollars to take advantage of the lower rates while they last.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

May will soon be over, but before we fire up the barbecue for Memorial Day, there's some dancing to be done at the Sunweaver Clubs. At Club Cutlass, things get a little "jumpy" and "jive" with "Best in J." Then our bunny chieftess gets a bit of the Devil in her with "Good vs Evil." And they end their week with a tribute to Memorial Day with "Veterans." At the Happy Vixen, the energetic DJ Tantari brings out her "Vixens of science" track for "Science." Then it's time for purple robes, fancy gowns, and powdered wigs as it's time for the "Royal Ball." And finally things get a little daring as the club has it's "Leather and Lace."

High above the Stheno sim, a memorial was set up in honor of the late Relayer. It consisted of a tomb in the middle of a field of flowers in s desert, with Egyptian flags, and signs for EgyptAir and Relay team Spirit of Sherwood. At the entrance were two obelesks with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs carved into them, with a memorial wreath next to one, and the other a table with several candles, a book where people could place signatures, and Nikoli's picture.

For those wishing to pay their respects, the memorial is at Bella Pointe, Stheno, (138/126/3550).

Creations For Parkinson’s, an official charity of The Michael J. Fox Foundation, is pleased to announce it’s very first annual Red, White, and Blue event! This event will take place from May 27, 2016 to June 6, 2016 and will include live djs, live performers, tribute concerts, an art auction, shopping, gachas, a hunt, and a special carnival!

About Creations For Parkinson’s:
100% of all donations go to our official Creations for Parkinson's Team Fox for The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Please be sure to watch our award winning video about the benefits of SL for my 87 "years young" RL Mom who has Parkinson's. This will touch your heart! Ebbe Linden (CEO of Linden Labs) has called this the most important video ever made about Second Life! The Drax File: World Makers- Episode 13 Creations for Parkinsons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyiiWxNguGo&feature=youtu.be

Monday, May 23, 2016

Gemma Cleanslate recently took a trip to New
Toulouse, which is best known for it's annual Mardi Gras Parade and it's historic-themed RP community, but recently put in some thing new. Until Sunday May 30, they will be having the game "Death Picks a Winner." Created by Nikita Weyman, in the game a promising candidate for mayor has been murdered, and it's up to you to follow the clues to find out the culprit. Can you solve this whodunit?

One of our more recent writers, Deaflegacy, wanted to share a few words with the readers of the Newser. Here, she describes what Second Life means to her, and how her virtual life has progressed to this point.

What a difference a week makes. Several days ago, Team Sunbeamers had raised a total of about 54,000 Lindens. Not a bad total, which was greater than some noted teams such as the Giant Snail Racers and the Relay Wizards for Spunky, but for the team that takes pride in being the heir to the highly successful Passionate Redheads, and being the team of an active community with some noted members such as Lomgren Smalls and Alleara Snoodle, it seemed like the team had seen better days. This year, a number of members were suffering from illness, dealing with family tragedy, or were hit with financial troubles. As one member put it, "we don't have the deep pockets of some of the bigger teams, and lately some of those pockets have been sewn shut."

But fortunes can change, and in the past few dayss they have. On Wednesday night, the team total went up to Bronze level thanks to a donation by Becky Shamen. It was a total that would continue to rise as donations kept coming in over the weekend with our presence at the Relaystock. Then came a surprise. One individual had donated 50,000 Lindens to one of the team's kiosks. Donations would continue to come in, Rita Mariner herself chipping in 10,000, and on Sunday night, the total was 150,000, or $600 US dollars.

Last year, 100,000 was enough to get Silver rank. But this year the requirements have gone way up, the amount needed to reach that being 180 or 190,000 Lindens. But with three "Bid Me" events currently going on (more about them later), and an upcoming air show and road rally, confidence is high that silver rank will soon be reached.

It was quite an event-filled weekend for the Relay for Life. Their main event was their tribute to Woodstock, "Relaystock," For two days at the Relay dAlliez sim, DJs and live musicians performed to the audience, which didn't mind a little rain and mud. There were also a few other events, such as the Relay party and art show at Loligager Lane, a KISS tribute concert at OD Designs, a "Empires of Hope Concert and Cookout" in which there was a raffle with gold bars for the "Tiny Empires" HUD-based game, a SL Coast Guard raffle, and more. A number of teams made notable gains in the number of Lindens donated, including the Sunbeamers, which in less than a week have gone from about 54,000 Lindens to as of last night 150,000. There's also been some recent renovations at the Sunbeamer estates.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

From Eddi Haskel on August 2009, "for more information see www.slwoodstock.com. Woodstock at 40 is a 4-day
celebration of the original event in 1969, from August 14 - August 17
2009. Over 90% of the original music will be played in the Blue Nile
region of the Virtual World of Second Life. Photographer Eddi Haskell
created this photo montage of the third day, combining his photography
with Grace Slick singing Jefferson Airplane's classic Woodstock hit 'Somebody to Love.' Please note: Although this is day 3 of
the Festival in the Virtual World of Second Life, it corresponds to the
second full day at Woodstock 1969 on Sunday"

Friday, May 20, 2016

Last night in the Relay for Life group chat, Julia J. Waugh - Van Drake (Aphroditestarr) announced that one of the leaders of her team, Spirit of Sherwood Forest, had been caught up in a dramatic real life event with a likely tragic ending. "I just got some really bad news. ... One of my RFL team leaders Nikoli (Redmayne) was on Flight 804, the Egypt plane that is missing. ... He is my SL brother too, has been a dear friend for years. I just found out from his partner who is headed over to where the families are meeting up" Julia went on to request prayers from the group, For those of you that pray, can I have your prayers sent? I am hoping so so bad that the plane is just off course or out of range, and not completely crashed." The Relayers responded with shock surprise, then statements of sympathy, "Praying for him, all the passengers and crew and their families and friends." "I can only hope that one day, we wont have to suffer anymore."

Flight 804 was an EgyptAir Airbus A320 carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo. The plane vanished from radar screens over the eastern Mediterranean, close to halfway between Alexandria the island of Crete. The Greek Defense Minister stated that while the plane had been cruising at 37,000 feet, it made a 90 degree turn to the left and plummeted, making a 360 turn to the right, and lost contact when it was at 10,000 feet. While there were reports of debris near a Greek island, they were later found not to be from the aircraft. While terrorism is suspected, as of the writing of this article, what happened to the plane or the status of those on board is unknown. Nikoli Redmayne was one of about thirty Egyptian passengers. The Airbus A320 has a capacity of about 150, and is described as having "an amazing safety record."

Talking with Julia, she had more to say about Nikoli Redmayne (NikoliOasis), "He has been doing (the) Relay with me for seven years now. Our biggest hope is that the planes are just out of reach and not crashed. My heart begs it to be that way. I just can't imagine the worst right now." She told me that he had originally came to Second Life nine years ago under a different avatar, "He got that av a few months back because his old one got hacked. But he has always gone by Nikoli."

Julia went on, "He was born and raised Egyptian. ... As a child he had a cancerous tumor that was removed after one round of chemo and has been cancer free since. ... He married his partner that was from the US, so (he) lived here in the states for the last couple of years. He went back to Egypt this past January because of deaths in his family. ... Seven years ago I pulled him into my team with two other friends of mine who have passed recently from cancer. He never wanted to be a captain or a co-captain, so he was just our 'Team Leader.' He was in charge of keeping his eyes open for different events for out team to sign up for. This group is a family, and he was definitely the fire that got all of us moving. We lost our two most inspirational members in the last twelve months to cancer, so he decided to take over the role this year and keep everyone moving in their honor."

The news had only recently reached the Spirit of Sherwood team, "I spoke to his husband who is absolutely hysterical, and it was put to me to let our family and team know. Once that was done we agreed that it should be asked in the RFL group for prayers."

Details are still coming in on what happened to the airliner, but it is appearing that this man who survived cancer and has spend years helping to fight it may have met his end to a different enemy.

Update: Shortly after this article was written, aircraft debris, including seats, luggage, and human remains, were found in the sea in the eastern part of the search area.

Due to complications, the Salon will NOT be on the third Sunday of May but the fourth, the 22nd, instead.

Secret Societies have existed since the dawn of Man, and all throughout history. For this month's Aether Salon, Jimmy Branagh explores the whys and wherefores of some of the most famous of these secretive and often malevolent organizations.

Taking a look at the Relay dAlliez sim yesterday, a number of Relay teams were already picking spots for this weekend's "Relaystock," the Relay for Life in Second Life's tribute to the noted Woodstock music festival in 1969. Each team has a tent or a bus as a campsite, and a small amount of prim space to set up their flag and kiosk, and maybe an item to sell for funds for the team.

Team Sunbeamers will be among the teams having a camp there. Perri Prinz commented that the tents in this virtual world tribute were a lot more colorful than those at the actual event, for those who brought tents at all, commenting many of those attending brought only sleeping bags. Shockwave Yareach asked for, and received, permission to set up a coin-finding game to help entertain those at the event.

The official entrance to the Relaystock is at Relay dAlliez (11/9/22), with the Sunbeamer camp at Relay dAlliez (125/64/22). The schedule for the music events can be found (here).

All year long a group of builders have been working hard towards one goal: to compete in the Third Annual Castle, Home and Garden Contest! Spanning across 12 sims, there will be 28 teams competing to win Best in Show for two categories- Best Castle and Best Home and/or Garden. During the week individuals will have the opportunity to explore and admire the builds while the esteemed judges will evaluate and determine a winner. The 1st Place Castle will get $L100,000 to their team, and the 1st place Home and/or Garden will get $L100,000 for their team. In addition to this, they will have what's called a Popular Vote. The Popular Vote entails a kiosk being in front of all builds and the build with the most linden in their kiosk wins the Popular Vote. The winner of the Popular Vote will get an additional $L50,000 linden to their team.

An event that has raised over $L800,000 for the American Cancer Society before even opening its doors, it will offer an astounding number of merchants- 79 stores will be set up across 12 sims. Merchant listing can be found here (http://www.chgrfl.com/#!our-merchants/wok2c). We have merchants that span across all sorts of shopping- breedables, fashion, furniture, medieval and fantasy huds, and much much more!

"Once Upon a Hunt", a hunt featuring 50 plus items, will run throughout the two weeks. Each builder will have a dance or event at their build promoting their build and their Popular Vote Kiosk. The schedule can be found here ( http://www.chgrfl.com/#!schedule/kg5w5). Two speed build contests, an Opening and Closing Ceremony, a Snail race, concerts, and the hunt are key features of the schedule.

Come explore the 12 sims- journey across the land of the Smurfs, join Aslan in the chronicles of Narnia, enjoy some merry shopping in Holiday World, believe in magic on Once Upon a Time, take a tale far far away in Brothers Grimm, join Snow White Anna and Rapunzel on Princesses, go to the land of the Mother of Dragons on Meereen, join the dragons on Dragonriders of Pern, go back into the world of Sherlock Holmes on Victorian London, join the hobbits in the Shire, find Harry Ron and Hermione on Godric's Hollow, and go down, down, down with Alice from May 23 to June 4th!

Come appreciate the builds. Each builder has experienced cancer in one way or another, whether they had or have it themselves or they cared for someone who did. Each build tells their story, their journey of cancer. We hope to see you there! Headed by Rowena Dubrovna, Cuddly Waffle, Sidonie Carlberg, Henrietta Demina, Nevar Lobo, Sue Peregrine and Sandie Loxingly Turbo with sim designers Grace Loudon, Cuddly Waffle and Mac Aries....the Castle Home and Garden Contest promises to be an event of a lifetime, once upon a time, in a land far far away.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

It's been a rough start for Relay for Life in Second Life's Team Subbeamers. Various team members have had problems from economic difficulties to illness to family tragedy. Finding out that the level to reach bronze had been jacked up to 75,000 Lindens also affected team morale. But the members persisted, doing a few events such as the "Fox Avatar Challenge," and slowly collecting Lindens from those inside and outside it's Sunweaver community.